Cruise lines need certainty in fuel supply in PortMiami, Royal Caribbean Group’s President and CEO Jason Liberty said during a meeting of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 9.
Addressing the recent sale of the port’s only fuel depot to a real estate investor, he noted that it is necessary to provide a long-term solution for the issue while also considering short-term impacts.
Liberty said that the discussion must ultimately focus on assuring a continued supply of affordable fuel for vessels operating in Miami.
“If there’s another place to put the facility, that’s wonderful, whether it’s on the port or not. The issue for us at hand is the certainty element,” he continued.
Currently located on Fisher Island, the port’s fuel depot was sold to the real estate investment company HRP Group.
Miami-Dade County is now looking for alternative solutions for the fuel supply of the port, which could include building a new facility at the port or buying the current one from its new owners.
“Even if we identify land, the amount of time it will take for the permitting, the building, etc., is not 24 months,” Liberty said, estimating that the process could take up to a decade.
“That’s the issue here; it’s the short term versus the long term. From my point of view, we know what a long-term solution could be,” he continued, mentioning a project for a tower in Fisher Island.
“But in the short to mid-term, without that fuel farm, it’s pretty tough to certify certainty that the fuel is going to be available to us.”
He added that a solution can’t feasibly be achieved “overnight or even in two years,” noting that cruise lines are trying to push for certainty in this path.
“As an industry, not just cruise, but also maritime and cargo, we want that because we make deployment decisions 18 to 24 months out and we need to be sure that it’s not going to be disrupted at that point in time,” Liberty said.
He added that the industry is open to all ideas, as long as the solutions do not disrupt operations in PortMiami.
According to FCCA, in addition to Liberty, other FCCA members present at the meeting included Lars Ljoen from Carnival Corporation; Richard Sasso from MSC Cruises; Dan Farkas and Juan Kuryla from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings; Russell Benford from Royal Caribbean Group; and Tom McAlpin and Eric Evans from Virgin Voyages.
